Tag: Investing

In December 1999, Princeton Professor Ben S. Bernanke wrote a relatively obscure paper largely denouncing the Bank of Japan’s shyness. Japan’s economy had by then been mired in its first Lost Decade, one which at that moment not everyone was sure should have been lost. It was fashionable at the time to pile on the… Read More

It’s been awhile since I advised anyone to load up on long Treasuries. The bearish bond narrative has been too strong for that, thanks largely to fiscal policy but also to near-4% unemployment rates, quantitative tightening and—maybe most threatening of all—tit-for-tat tariffs. In fact, I challenge anyone to think of a time during the past… Read More

Yesterday, we spotlighted Brazil’s economy as perhaps a leading indicator for where things stand. Today, it’s China’s turn. Neither are very encouraging. Both offer instead only growing concern. The reason isn’t just the possibility of the world economy rolling over in 2018, rather it’s from what level any deceleration might have begun. Despite the characterization… Read More

Presidency media statement President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Dr Silas Ramaite as Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) following this week’s ruling by the Constitutional Court on the appointment of Advocate Shaun Abrahams. On Monday, 13 August 2018, the Constitutional Court declared as invalid and unconstitutional the appointment of Adv. Abrahams as NDPP, as… Read More

*Sponsored content For many South Africans moving to the UK the devil is in the detail when it comes to settling in and setting up a home. Learning and understanding the nuances of a new country can take time and be frustrating, but can also be costly. As an SA expat myself, these tips from… Read More

Meet Dark Money’s Secret $68 Million Donor By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 14, 2018 ~ In 2010 we broke the news that a secretive nonprofit called Donors Capital Fund (with the fingerprints of billionaire Charles Koch all over it) had forked over $17,778,600 to fund a widely distributed race-baiting film in the weeks… Read More

We manage two “bundles” on the EasyEquities platform, offering the Biznews community a low cost, small ticket entry into tightly focused portfolios of US and South African shares. This is a Biznews Premium article. Please login or sign up for a free 1-month trial. Source: biznews.com

CAPE TOWN — SA’s ruling party is seemingly obsessed with the socialist genie in a bottle which they are convinced can be coaxed out by rubbing it with any number of redistributive policies that have very little to do with pragmatic economic reality. So says Marius Oosthuizen, helmsman at the Future of Business SA Project… Read More

JOHANNESBURG — The total tally for job losses in South Africa’s mining industry is adding up fast as Gold Fields has announced a restructuring of the world’s second largest gold mine, South Deep. The company expects to cut 1 560 jobs in a restructuring drive – this comes just weeks after Implats announced a plan… Read More

JOHANNESBURG — Naspers’ shareholders will be watching this planned IPO carefully as it introduces another South African link to the burgeoning electric car market. What makes it more interesting is that at a time when Elon Musk is having to explain himself over ‘securing funding’ to take Tesla private, China’s NIO is looking the other way… Read More

Curro media statement Curro Holdings, the listed independent education provider, has today released its results for the first six months ending 30 June 2018, showing an 18% boost in revenue from R1,051 million to R1,242 million. Curro’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rose 31% from R255 million to R335 million, while headline… Read More

The rapid spread of mobile technology in the developing world — especially in Africa, which has lagged behind most of Asia and Latin America in closing the income gap with the west — has given rise to the theory of “leapfrogging”, says the Financial Times. This is a Biznews Premium article. Please login or sign up… Read More

EDINBURGH — Intuition and anecdotal evidence tell us that corruption is bad for countries, encouraging tax evasion and the development of a grey economy. There is also a direct link between currency strength and a country’s corruption rating, says Sean Peche. The investment analyst has examined the volatility of emerging market currencies and compared these… Read More

JOHANNESBURG — If you ever need any motivation to get you across the line with your personal goals in life, I suggest you listen to my interview with former Cape Town-based David Perel. What’s fascinating about David, who now lives in London, is that he had a passion for racing karts while growing up as… Read More

To those who have followed his diverse career in the glare of the showbiz spotlight, it should come as no real surprise that Danny K’s first words as a finger-clicking toddler weren’t “mama” or “dada”, but rather “ha ha ha ha”, not as in laughter, but as in the catchy chorus to the Bee Gees… Read More

Most investors are probably more familiar with the S&P 500 Index which is the go-to index for large-cap stocks…[with the] largest publicly-traded U.S. stocks by market capitalization, as well as other criteria. Today’s infographic comes to us from Raconteur and it helps paint a clearer picture about the nature of AI, while attempting to debunk… Read More

Tesla’s South African-born founder Elon Musk moved into damage control mode yesterday with a 1,100 word blog on the electric car company’s website to defend last Tuesday’s nine word Twitter bombshell. But it brings to mind the old saying that when you’re in a hole, best to just throw away the space. Musk’s tweet, which… Read More

Overshadowed by the “dollar” last week was the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS reported the US CPI had increased in July 2018 by the highest rate since December 2011. Running at 2.95% year-over-year, consumer prices accelerated a little from June’s pace. Not only that, the CPI’s core rate of inflation sped up to 2.35%.… Read More

There is just something about August. It is irresistible, apparently, in all the wrong ways. For starters, there are big ones and small ones but somehow they all line up against liquidity and plentiful eurodollar money. In the former class there was, of course, August 9, 2007, August 9, 2011, and August 10, 2015. Even… Read More

South Africa’s famous forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has joined thousands of “the good, honest cops” in celebrating today’s Constitutional Court judgement which ejected the tainted head of the country’s National Prosecuting Authority. This is a Biznews Premium article. Please login or sign up for a free 1-month trial. Source: biznews.com